At my time at Le Bonheur we saw a couple of cases where the patients had neurogenic bladders and neurogenic bowels and required a MACE procedure in order to help with the condition. Patients who have neurogenic bladder lack bladder control due to a brain, spinal cord, or nerve problem while patients with neurogenic bowel lack the ability to control bowel movements. The Malone Antegrade Continence Enima (MACE) is described by The Department of Pediatric Surgery at The University of Michigan: " The concept behind the procedure is to empty the colon of stool using fluid (similar to an enema) which is infused through a catheter (tube) in the proximal colon rather than from below. Ideally, the distal colon (rectum) will remain empty for the majority of the day following irrigation." To sum this long statement up, this procedure helps patients no longer have fecal incontinence, which is the inability to control bowel movements resulting in unexpected stool leakage from the rectum.
After Naudia kindly allowed me to use her stethoscope to listen to her patients' heartbeats, I began getting very interested in hearing what an abnormal heartbeat sounded like, and thanks to Naudia, she allowed me to listen to one of her patients who has a heart murmur, so I could tell the difference between a normal and abnormal beat. According to the American Heart Association, "Heart murmurs are often caused by defective heart valves. A stenotic heart valve has a smaller-than-normal opening and can't open completely. A valve may also be unable to close completely. This leads to regurgitation, which is blood leaking backward through the valve when it should be closed." Additionally, heart murmurs can be caused by congenital defects and other conditions such as pregnancy, fever, anemia, and others. When I listened to the patient's heartbeat through the stethoscope, I could hear a whooshing sound between the beats, and Naudia told me that this is the sound doctors look for when examining patients' hearts for murmurs.
Sources:
-http://www.mayoclinic.org/diseases-conditions/hemangioma/home/ovc-20202394
-http://surgery.med.umich.edu/pediatric/patient/conditions/A-M/malone.shtml
http://www.heart.org/HEARTORG/Conditions/More/CardiovascularConditionsofChildhood/Heart-Murmurs_UCM_314208_Article.jsp#.V2lkhfkrJD8